Guests from Petrozavodsk gave start to the anniversary activities

2 february 2016

In 1976, the mayors of Petrozavodsk and Umeå, Pavel Sepsyakov and Gustaf Vidman signed an Agreement on twinning relations. Over the past decade, cities have implemented a variety of initiatives in culture, business, health, education.

Events dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the twinning relations, started on January 27-28 : six performances of puppet theater based on the Russian folk tale "With the wave of the wand" were organized in Umeå and the surrounding area (including a refugee camp); folk band Skylark performed at three different venues in the city.

During the visit, members of the delegation from Petrozavodsk also discussed further activities. In particular, in the autumn of 2016 Days of the Swedish culture will be held in Petrozavodsk. Partners dicsussed the program of the Days, which might include participation of Museum of Västerbotten, regional and city libraries, Film i Västerbotten, folk music and dance froup from Malå municipality, a dancing group from Skelleftea.

Also, Umeå municipality expressed its willingness to provide new decorations for the "Wish Tree" in Petrozavodsk, as well as landscape the territory around the gift of Petrozavodsk in the sister-city park in the heart of Umeå.